20 October 2008

Arab Media Watch chairman Sharif Hikmat Nashashibi will be a regular presenter for Press TV's new programme Middle East Today, which will broadcast every Saturday.

Nashashibi will interview experts on the week's major developments in the region. He will be involved in selecting topics, suggesting interviewees and formulating questions.

Other Press TV presenters include:

- Andrew Gilligan, Evening Standard columnist, best known for his 2003 report about a British government briefing paper on Iraq and weapons of mass destruction (the September Dossier) while working for BBC Radio 4's The Today Programme as its defence and diplomatic correspondent.

- Afshin Rattansi, the award-winning former BBC journalist and novelist, and Guardian columnist. He launched the Dubai Business Channel, and worked in senior positions at Al Jazeera, Bloomberg and CNN International.

- Yvonne Ridley, a former Al Jazeera and Sunday Express journalist.

- Tariq Ramadan, the renowned Swiss Muslim academic and thinker, ranked at number 8 in a list of the world's top 100 public intellectuals by the magazines Prospect and Foreign Policy.

- George Galloway, a British Member of Parliament and head of the RESPECT party.

Press TV has over 50 correspondents in London, New York, Washington, Beirut, Damascus, Beijing, Moscow, and several other European capitals, as well as four correspondents covering the Israel-Palestine conflict from Gaza, Ramallah and Jerusalem.

Press TV will be available on the Sky package from December 2008, but its programmes are already available on Arabic packages, as well as its website (www.presstv.com).